Tennis Elbow Forever

I have been checking the internet for more help with my tennis elbow. The pain is excruciating at times and affects my shoulder/wrist as well.

So far: No tennis playing for 2 months
two cortisone injections
12 visits to Physical/Occupational Therapy
Exercises/ultrasound treatments/massage
Three orthopedic physicians over 5 months
Anti-inflammatory meds
Vicodin (which I am out of now!)
Suggestions of several different surgeries
Has anyone found real help?
My option is to stop playing at all for 6-8 months to see if that works. As any tennis player knows, that is a tough pill to swallow.
Kathleen

Sure sounds like you are going through a rough time with the tennis elbow. I hope you can recover from it soon and get back out on the court. (Save a little time for us here at tennisw.com, though, okay? )

pain relief

Tennis elbow can be caused by strokes that are not correct . They can put severe pressure on your joints. My wife has bad back & joint problems. She has changed her racquet to a POWER ANGLE 115 which is designed for all kinds of joint problems(and it really works) Some Dunlop racquets are very arm friendly my 700g is one. Arm friendly strings are also available. My worst experience was with a head s12 with polyester string(thought my head was going to fall off) Hope this helps

Tennis elbow ...

I would certainly let it rest as much as possible and buy a lighter racquet. The lighter the racquet, the more comfortable. Plus, what you've read already, watch your swing. I bought a lighter racquet and my forearm and wrist issues are gone. Of course I have to worry about other health issues myself while playing.

"Success is a journey, not a destination. Have faith in your ability."

Goodbye Tennis Elbow

I developed severe tennis elbow following an arm injury. I had 13 weeks of chiropractic treatments plus physical therapy. My Dr. said to rest the arm completely until it was totally healed or risk never playing tennis again. After 4 months of rest and missing an entire tennis season I resumed play gradually with an arm brace to "protect" my elbow. I stil experienced pain occasionally, especially after over-exertion. I have been wearing that arm brace religiously for 3 years, but in June I took a private clinic with Oscar Wegner and he noticed the brace. He suggested changing my racquet angle in the "ready position", loosening my grip, adjusting my swing path and switching to a smaller racquet grip size. Although skeptical I found the courage to start playing without the brace utilizing his corrections, and to my amazement my tennis elbow completely disappeared. I cannot make my elbow hurt using his techniques! Also, if you experience hip or knee pain and you hit with a closed stance consider adjusting to an open stance. If you watch the pros you will see that they adjust their posture and movement with a natural flow rather than the forced mechanics taught by conventional tennis methods. This has been the most startling improvement (among many) in my game since following Oscar's methodology, and I am grateful to now play pain-free.

elbow

i have had alot of major problems and as i am on world class points i couldnt really rest. Luckly i have found a item which helps my arm. The treatment is muscle rub. yes muscle rub. i didnt think it would work but amazingly it does. but also if ur considering a new raquet get babolats new raquet where the grip concaves inwards. This alows ur hand to sit nicely deeper into the raquet so you can have a thick grip but would effectly feel thin.

Babolat has invented the first ever truly ergonomic racket that is perfectly shaped for your hand. The grip is contoured meaning that the entire palm of your hand is in contact with the racket. Babolat's Cortex system also filters and dampens vibrations for maximum comfort. The Babolat Aeroblast has been engineered to suit players with a developing or shorter swing seeking power, manoeuvrability and comfort.

Tennis Elboooooooow

Here is what I did to defeat my tennis elbow. 1)Slightly lighter racket that is low on vibration(think thicker frame). 2)Looser strings 3) multi-filament strings (like wilson nxt's). 4)Consider increasing your grip size. This can be done without replacing the racquet by having your pro shop install a sleeve or just adding another grip over your existing grip. 5) Stretching exercizes for the fore-arm muscles in the morning, before and after tennis.

As for the fore-arm muscle stretches, straighten the afflicted arm and then pull the fingers backwards in such a way to stretch and lengthen the muscles on the palm side of the fore-arm. Next do this to the thumb. I do this for 5 minutes in the morning as well as before and after a match or practice.

I also googled "tennis elbow" and discovered CT Cream. I have been using it and though I really can't positively determine whether it works, my tennis elbow problems are minimal this season. I also do exercises with a 2 lb. weight that I also found on the internet. Plus my tennis instructor also changed the way I serve.

from Tennis.com:
Odds are that the racquet you see Andy Roddick or Maria Sharapova using spent its early life in a cubbyhole in a nonde-script ofﬁ ce in Midtown Manhattan. It sat there for weeks—at that point just a frame, no handle—until Roman Prokes got the call for a resupply. Then he me-ticulously customized the racquet to the player’s demanding speciﬁcations.
For the pros, mass-produced frames won’t do. There’s too much variability. A gram too top-heavy and the racquet just won’t feel right. Pete Sampras used to complain that if too much ink was used to stencil the Wilson logo on his strings, he could feel the difference.

Prokes, owner of RPNY Tennis and a TENNIS advisor, likens himself to a tailor. “If you buy a suit off the rack, even if it ﬁ ts well it’s not going to be perfect. The same thing goes for tennis racquets.

”While much of his business involves working with professionals—Prokes often travels with the tours as a stringer—he offers the same customization services to anyone. He’s been in the racquet business for 23 years, long enough to see equipment trends come and go, and he understands what might beneﬁt the average player. So before you buy a new racquet, it may be worth ﬁne-tuning your old one.

from "Play Better Tennis In 2 Hours" by Oscar Wegner:
A smaller grip size, which allows the tip of the middle finger to be close to the thumb pad, enables the playera to keep a looser grip on the racquet, resulting in a better feel of its position. Furthermore, smaller grip sizes make it easier to play at net, while larger grips make net pay cumbersome. Lastly, smaller grip sizes allows slight changes of grip to become automatic, making racquets, especially lighter-weight models, feel like magnificent magic wands. I have a very large hand. Back in the days when I was on tour, I used a large grip (4 3/4") wooden racquet, which resulted in plenty of elbow trouble. Thanks to the development of larger racquet heads, which are fairly flexible, and the use of a smaller grip size (4 1/4") I no longer suffer from tennis elbow, even when playing for as long as four hours. And I enjoy a greater feel for the ball."

I followed Oscar's advice (as stated in a previous post) and no longer have and elbow pain.

Oops, I forgot the quote about smaller grip size from Roman Prokes, so here it is:

During a recent Federer-Nadal battle, you may have heard the commentators note how both players use unusually small grips. The pros’ handles are customized to ﬁ t their hands, and they use much more precise measurements than the 1/8-inch increments found in store models. Nadal’s grip is roughly 4 1/8 inches in circumference, a size most recreational male players stopped using in middle school. According to Prokes, the smaller-grip trend began with clay-court specialists such as Sergi Bruguera and Gustavo Kuerten. “A smaller grip is useful for open-stance forehands. You can use a lot of wrist and it helps create sharp angles,” Prokes says.

I sorted my tennis elbow after reading about some new exercises in the New York Times.
They did a study on exercises called 'eccentric' exercises and the results were so good they had to stop the study as it was not fair to the control group who were missing out.
Best thing is you can do them yourself and don't need to go to physical therapy.
There are now plenty of instructions on how to do them on the net.
I used this site as it had a video and written instructions. http://www.flexbar.info
I have been able to stop doing the exercises now but at least i know I can quickly start up again if required.

There's joint creme you can get. I can't remember the name of it, but you rub it on before and after you play. What I done (but only works for an hour or so) is i got the top of a sweeping brush (a mop will do either ) and I pressed my elbow down on it and moved it around on the little hole in my joint and about 2 minutes later I was grand another thing you could try if in a match is rub that little hole thing with your finger ! I done all this (except the creme) and I found that all of them work! Hope this helps =)

Diagonally strung

Diagonally stung rackets are supposed to help. A lady named madelene patented one and called it the mad raq or mad rak. She then got a partner and simplified the string method and now has another model out. Sorry, i dont remember its name.
Also, no-one mentioned using a glove to reduce vibration.

Diagonally strung etc.

The new racket info can be found at power angle.net.it is sold at tennis warehouse. Another racket change to help tennis elbow would be to go "old school " with a very flexible constant beam racket. The the rossignol f 200 plays well. The old donnay ceramic is good for tennis elbow and plays o.k.
If the pain was so bad that you considered giving up the game ; you could try radical technique changes. For example, push the ball, use underspin on every shot. You could use 2 hands for both forehand and backhand.
Believe it or not, it is even possible to serve with both hands. Hope something here helps.

Tennis Elbow Rehabilitation - It Works Guaranteed

Tennis Elbow Rehabilitation

Many tennis players, recreational as well as professional, will experience pain just below the elbow joint, commonly referred to as “tennis elbow”. Tennis elbow (also referred to as lateral epicondylitis) actually is and inflammation (tendonitis) of the wrist extensor tendon, which is formed by four forearm muscles (extensor carpi radialis longus & brevis, extensor digitorum communis, and extensor carpi ulnaris; see attachment Figure 1).

How Tennis Elbow Develops

Most scientists believe that tennis elbow starts with a micro tear in the wrist extensor muscles (see Figure 1). This occurs due to improper warm-up and/or overuse. More specifically, tennis elbow mainly is caused by regularly reinforcing poor stroke production technique, in particular during the backhand ground stroke. Slapping or punching the ball instead of swinging fully through the shot increases pressure on the wrist extensor tendon. In other words, hitting a backhand groundstroke (making contact with the ball) while leading with a flexed elbow (elbow is at or near 90˚) instead of the shoulder/body will cause inflammation of the wrist extensor tendon.